An electromagnetically actuable valve for injecting a fuel/gas mixture into a mixture-compressing internal combustion engine having externally supplied ignition is already known (German Patent application No. 41 21 372), in the case of which a gas containing sleeve surrounds a nozzle body of a fuel injection valve. The gas containing sleeve is designed in such a way that its bottom part, which has a concentric passage opening, is formed obliquely towards the valve end of the fuel injection valve. An annular gas gap is formed in this way between a perforated (apertured) spray disc and the bottom part of the gas containing sleeve. The gas stream emerging from the annular gas gap is directed radially at the individual fuel jets emerging from the perforated spray disc and causes the fuel jets to approach one another and may even cause them to unite into a single fuel jet.
Also known is an injection valve for injecting a fuel/gas mixture (U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,241) in which a spacer plate for influencing the air rate is installed between a nozzle body and a protective cap. The spacer plate between the nozzle body and the protective cap has a central opening into which the downstream pintle end of a valve needle projects. The air supply to the fuel emerging from a fuel passage is accomplished via air passages and air chambers. Here, the radial air supply to the pintle of the valve needle is determined by the height of, for example, four spacer knobs formed on the spacer plate. In the final analysis, however, the quantity and composition of the fuel/air mixture is determined by the size of the axially extending annular gap between the pintle of the valve needle and the circumference of the opening in the spacer plate.
German Patent application No. 37 16 402 has furthermore disclosed injection valves with a perforated plate in which there are formed two spray holes (also referred to as spray-discharge orifices) from which fuel jets emerge, these being targeted at different deflection surfaces of a prismatic deflection body and being deflected there in desired directions. However, the fuel is not surrounded by a gas and there is thus no risk that the fuel jets will move towards one another.
Likewise known are injection valves (U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,716) in which an impact surface is provided downstream of the single spray opening, the single fuel jet sprayed striking the impact surface and being guided in the form of a film into two spray passages, an air jet being directed at the fuel films formed after the impact.